In the Southwest United States, the climate is dry, particularly during the summer months. This necessitates frequent irrigation to maintain cultivated plants. This is true even for residential homes with grass lawns. The grass must be irrigated to prevent the grass from drying out.
Irrigation systems for residential homes are commonly referred to as sprinkler systems. A sprinkler system has plural fixed sprinkler heads positioned at various locations around the lawn. The sprinkler heads are interconnected with each other with pipe.
To install a sprinkler system, trenches in the lawn are dug to receive the pipe and the sprinkler heads. The trenches are typically dug with a trenching machine. The machines excavates the soil from the trench and piles it up on top of the lawn on one side of the trench. The pipe is then laid in the trench and connected in an appropriate manner. To complete the installation, the trench is backfilled with the loosened soil. This same procedure is also followed whenever any underground installation such as pipe or cable, is made.
In the prior art there are various machines for backfilling, however, none are suitable for residential use. The prier art machines are too heavy and too large to be practical for residential use. These machines, if used, would cause unsightly rutting in the lawn due to their heaviness. In addition, the heavy prior art machines increase the possibility of breaking pipes and cables already buried beneath the lawn. Should breakage occur, then expensive repair would be required. Furthermore, many residential installations are in fenced backyards. The only access to these backyards is through relatively narrow gateways. The prior art machines are too wide to fit through these gateways. A section of the fence could be removed to accommodate the backfilling machines, but this is usually too expensive and time consuming.
Thus, in the absence of a suitable backfilling machine, the trenches are filled manually with shovels. Laborers move along the trench, shoveling the dirt into the trench. This, however, requires much labor and time. In addition, use of the shovel results in damaging the grass around the trench.
On prior art backfilling machines, the operator rides on the machine during backfilling operations. These machines are relatively easy to steer because their large weight counteracts any lateral forces produced by pushing the dirt into the trench. But, when designing a small backfilling machine for residential lawn use, care must be taken to compensate for the reduced weight of the machine as it relates to steering. A lighter weight machine has a tendency to pull to one side due to the lateral forces produced by pushing the dirt into the trench. This pulling force makes the machine difficult to steer and fatigues the operator.